Richland tennis shows superiority vs. Chiefs

MOSES LAKE - A strong Richland Bombers tennis program made the trip north to Moses Lake and were anything but a polite guest during their dual against the host Chiefs on Tuesday.

The Bombers showed their superiority on the court as they rolled to 6-0 and 7-0 wins in boys and girls matches respectively.

"The boys ran into a senior team full of varsity experience," Moses Lake head coach Jon Wrigley said. "There are probably only a few teams in 4A across the state that can match the depth they have from top to bottom."

The Chiefs dropped singles matches at No. 2 (Chris Jones), No. 3 (Matt Schafer), and No. 4 (Dallas Pryor), while Moses Lake's top player, Tyler McFarland didn't see his match finish due to rain.

Doubles teams Josh Black/Levi Huddleton, Tyler Knapp/Conner Koreis, and Nat Mengist/Nathan Sanchez, also fell against the Bombers.

Richland did not lose a set in the dual.

"I stacked the doubles to try and get us into the match but they are so deep they were able to handle our effort," Wrigley said. "We just did not come out with the fire needed to play a team at the level of the Bombers."

On the girls' side, only Jessica Homesley won a set for Moses Lake, at No. 2 singles, as the Chiefs girls fell despite being competitive in most of the matches.

"We missed a ton of opportunities to close out sets," Wrigley said. "It was unfortunate that we did not close out the many sets we were leading near the end of the set.

We had some issues with execution at key times in the match."

Homesley fell 6-3, 5-7, 5-7, and fellow singles players Courtney Kunjara (No. 1), Alyssa Tucker (No. 3), and Sierra Uhlinger (No. 4) also dropped their matches.

In doubles play,  Amanda Hart/Annalise Odegaard dropped a 6-4, 6-4 decision at No. 1, while Becca Bryan/Micayla Strickland (No. 2), and Makena Jansen/Marki Koreis (No. 3), also were swept by the Bombers.

EPHRATA 5-3

QUINCY 0-2

QUINCY - Experience and closing ability made all the difference in the Ephrata tennis teams' ability to sweep their arch rivals from Quincy yesterday.

The visiting Tigers pulled out a 5-0 sweep of Quincy in boys play while the girls held on for a 3-2 win against the host Lady Jacks in both teams' Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) opener.

"Ephrata's experience on the courts showed by winning all five matches for the boys," Quincy head coach Alan Rasmussen said.

In boys action, Ephrata did not lose a set and dominated play dropping only 14 total games.

In singles, Ephrata's Hunter Sears beat Garrett VanDyke 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1, while the No. 2 Tiger, Thomas Pheasant held off Samuel Gregg, 6-3, 6-1.

Doubles play saw more of the same as Ephrata's top team of Connor Sears/Michael Bosnar defeated Adam Wilson/Joe Avalos 6-4, 6-0.

The No. 2 Ephrata pairing of Mauricio Contreras/Micheal McDonnell rolled to a 6-2, 6-1 win over James Bensch/Marco Hernandez and the No, 3 Tigers duo of Jordan Brzezny/Calvin Callahan won 6-0, 6-0 over Miguel Tapia/Victor Orquiz.

On the girls' side, the battles were many and the Lady Tigers would hold on despite dropping two three-set decisions.

Quincy's win came at No. 1 singles, where Ciara Rasmussen rallied to beat Giang Bui, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 and at No. 2 doubles as Sara Rigby/Blanca Corona also came from behind to defeat Teresa Ratigan/Tiana Schmitz, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Ephrata wins came at No, 2 singles, Whitney Miller over Denise Gomez, 6-0, 6-0, No. 1 doubles, Naomi Kooistra/Allison Pheasant 6-4, 7-6 (5) over Claudia Valenzuela/Olivia Arizmendi, and at No. 3 doubles, Kim Beck/Aubrey Denley over Ashlee Breeden/Caitlin Silk, 6-0 6-1.